E3 2013: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Impressions)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt from CD Projekt RED was one of my most anticipated games to see at this year's E3 and I'm glad to say that I wasn't disappointed in the slightest by the presentation. One of the first points emphasized during the presentation was that the narrative is considered the game's most important element. The Witcher 3 focuses on telling a more personal story about Geralt of Rivia, which has also been designed to not require knowledge of previous games in the series. Set in a massive open world, Geralt will be able to travel over both land and sea in search of the wild hunt and also to discover the mystery behind the emergence of an unknown dark force.

Even with the in-game video shown to us was considered alpha, it looked simply stunning. The game's visual style shares a lot in common with The Lord of the Rings films and Game of Thrones television series. There have been numerous improvements made to the graphics engine ranging from realistic fur on animals to 50 bones of articulation in faces for more believable delivery of dialogue. One of the other features touted as being important for The Witcher 3 is the open world that is 35 times larger than the previous game. The presentation provided a glimpse of the game's living world as citizens go about daily activities independent of Geralt's involvement. Random encounters will also be a new feature in addition to the normal set of quests.

The world of The Witcher 3 is being designed around points of interest that function as starting points for additional adventures. From a day and night cycle to the dynamic weather system, the game's world looks as it will be easy to lose hours to just exploring its vast lands. The improved battle system was also showcased in which the developers described it as more refined and less complex to use, in addition to the removal of quick time events. The developers made sure to clarify that the game doesn't include any boss battles, but what are referred to as simply tougher enemies. Geralt's skill of tracking and learning how to kill monsters is also receiving more attention in which even now the time of day plays an important role in deciding when to confront them.

Currently set for release in 2014 for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows PC, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt looks to again set a new standard for role-playing games.